As you may already know, this is the Free Software Foundation's thirtieth year fighting for computer user freedom. It has been a great year already, with our biggest LibrePlanet conference ever and an
article about GNU in the New Yorker. But what's a birthday without a party?

Hello free software supporters, my name is Adam Tobias Leibson. I've been an avid GNU/Linux user since my first year of high school. Around that time, I read Cory Doctorow's book Little Brother. That book challenged me to think more deeply about the effects of mass surveillance on society, and brought about my interests in privacy and cryptography.

Two years ago today, Edward Snowden tipped the first domino in a chain that led to a historic international conversation about the role of surveillance in modern life. One year ago today, we launched Email Self-Defense, an infographic and guide to encrypting your email with free software to protect your privacy and resist bulk surveillance.

This week the FSF added our signature to a coalition letter addressed
to Barack Obama, calling on him to reject any proposal to
systematically undermine the encryption used to secure digital devices
and software made in the US.